This High
by lilybugsondrugs
Summary: Sirius Black broke rules. It was sort of his calling. Except for one. M for explicit language, adult themes, drugs, violence


**A/N: testing out a new idea while I edit Fall in Love. I've been thinking about this for weeks and finally decided to try it. Let me know in a review if this first chapter is any good and if you guys would like to see another chapter.**

"Do you think we should have erased their memories?"

"I don't think those two will be saying anything about what they saw tonight." Sirius chuckled, stuffing the keys to his motorcycle into his pocket. "Everyone would think them mad. You sound like Lily, mate."

James rolled his eyes and followed along beside his best friend, looking around the empty street curiously. His heart was still racing from the chase, but he felt good. Of course Sirius was right, no one would believe a couple of guys magically lifted a car with sticks to avoid a few men FLYING on sticks.

"What now?" He asked.

"Let's have some fun." Sirius shrugged, looking around for a moment before walking across the empty street towards a small pub with a neon red sign.

"The fun you're talking about doesn't apply to me anymore."

"Oh right." Sirius glanced over his shoulder at James. "Best man at the wedding and I still forget you got married. Shit best friend I am."

James laughed. "I wouldn't mind a few drinks. Put in a good word for you to the women you meet."

Sirius grinned and clapped his friend on the back. "All they need to do is look at me."

"It might be best if you don't lead with that. Women aren't always into the whole arrogance thing."

"You should know." Sirius snorted as he pulled the door open, letting James walk in ahead of him. They both stood in front of the door, taking in the sight before them, slightly baffled by the amount of people in such a small building.

"Is this a good idea?" James whispered, glancing at Sirius. "Getting drunk around so many muggles?"

"The best idea I've had in months." Sirius retorted, moving with purpose towards the bar, staring at the myriad of liquors and whiskey he'd never seen before. He looked like a kid in a candy store. James sat down on the stool beside him, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"What'll it be?" The bartender stepped up, wiping down a glass with a dingy looking cloth. It looked as though it had probably been white at some point.

"Uh, I'm not entirely sure." Sirius said idly, still scanning the numerous bottles. "That one, the uh—I can't pronounce that. The clear bottle with the red lid, up top."

"And you?" The bartender looked at James.

"Same thing."

As the old man poured their drinks, Sirius turned, leaning against the bar as he scanned the room. It was noisy and crowded, bodies pressed together, either dancing or just trying to hear one another. Sirius rarely mingled with muggles. He didn't hate them, and he certainly wasn't scared of them, but he generally kept his distance. Despite that, Sirius was still deeply fascinated by them.

Muggles lives their lives blissfully ignorant of the depth of the world they lived in, unaware that magic existed while simultaneously believing that it did, in some aspect. They dreamed up tales of witches and vampires, goblins and werewolves, and yet refused to believe they weren't the only mostly human beings in the world. They invented amazing things to make their lives easier. It was magic in and of itself.

"Sirius."

He jumped at the sound of his name and looked down at James, whose attention was directed towards a group of young women across the room smiling at them. Noticing that the pair were now looking at them, a couple of them waved and started walking in their direction.

"Shit." Sirius turned around, grabbed his glass and downed it, his face screwing up in disgust. "I'm not drunk enough yet."

James laughed. "You need to be drunk to win a girl's affection?"

"Well, no, but it's a good start." Sirius shrugged, gesturing for the old man to refill his glass. "I've never flirted with a muggle before."

"Where did all your bravado from earlier go?"

Before Sirius could answer, a light tap on his shoulder prompted him to turn, where he came face to face with a slender woman, barely reaching his shoulders. She was pretty, with a long, heart-shaped face and light brown eyes. Her bright red hair was cropped short, falling just below her chin. When she smiled, he could see that her front teeth overlapped slightly.

"Hello." She said, glancing between the two of them. "I'm Lara, and this is my friend Jess."

"I'm Sirius." He said lamely. "And this is my best friend James. He's married by the way."

Lara laughed, though her friend seemed a little put-out. "I see. Are you taken, then?"

"I'm as free as a bird, love." Sirius winked and took a sip from his cup, resisting the urge to make another face. It was very harsh, like drinking fire, though it was absolutely nothing like firewhiskey.

"I like that." Lara grinned, glancing at her friend. "Same as me."

James snorted and slid off the barstool, patting Sirius's shoulder. "I need the restroom. I'll be back in a bit."

"I'll be here." Sirius called over his shoulder, looking between the two women. "It's pretty crowded, isn't it?"

Lara shrugged. "It's a Saturday night, of course it is. Most people only go out like this on the weekends."

"Right." Another sip. Jess looked bored.

"I've never seen you before." Lara said after a moment of silence. Her eyes slid up and down his body like she was undressing him in her mind. "I come here every weekend with my friends. Did you just move here?"

"Oh no, just out and about. James and I had a bit of a rough night." Sirius couldn't lie, he was definitely beginning to feel the effects of his drink. His body felt tingly and hot, like a fire had ignited in his belly. It was a good feeling.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Lara moved closer, her friend having retreated back to their group, leaning against the bar beside him, their arms touching. "Has it gotten any better?"

He smirked. "My night improves every second I talk to you."

Lara's face turned bright red and she looked down at her feet. "Smooth talker. Do you say that to every woman you meet?"

"Different words for different women." He said honestly, raising his eyebrow at her.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Then you must've had a lot of women."

"Does that bother you?"

She rolled her eyes up in thought, tapping her chin. "Nope, not at all. In fact..." she leaned up on her tiptoes, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder to steady herself, and whispered in his ear. "I want to be one of them."

Sirius nearly choked on his drink. He coughed, turning his head as he set his drink down on the bar. He could hear her laughing beside him at his reaction. Sirius wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to face her again.

"I wasn't expecting that." He chuckled, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

"I wasn't expecting you to be so honest." She retorted with a smug smile. "Any other girl might've been offended."

"You're not like any other girl then, I take it?"

"I like to think so." She hopped up onto the stool James had vacated. Sirius looked around, bothered now by the amount of time his friend had been gone. It didn't take that long to take a piss.

"So what do you do?"

"What?"

"Like your occupation. Your job. What do you do?"

"Oh, I—um... don't exactly have a job." Sirius admitted sheepishly. "I don't need one, and personally, I don't like the idea of having to work for someone else. If I had to get one though, I'd probably start a business."

"Oh I see..." her eyes seemed to light up like beacons. "You're rich, then. Trust fund baby."

"I have enough to live." He said evasively.

She smiled. "I bet you do. Do you live with anyone? Your parents?"

Sirius made a face. "Definitely not. I left home when I was sixteen. James's family took me in while we were still in school. I moved out when we graduated."

"Why did you leave?"

"I guess you could say I was a bit of a rebel and my parents didn't approve of it. I wasn't the son they wanted."

"I'm sorry." She sounded sincere. "Have you spoken to them at all since then?"

"No." Sirius said in a flat tone. "And I don't plan to."

Lara looked around, appearing slightly uncomfortable. "Were you an only child?"

"Do you mind if we stop talking about my family?" Sirius asked abruptly. "I don't want to be rude, but it's still difficult to talk about."

"Of course." Lara said quickly. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"You didn't do anything wrong." Sirius shrugged, gulping down half of his drink. "It's normal to be curious."

She smiled. "I like you, Sirius. You're different from the other guys I've met."

"How do you mean?"

She shrugged, waving her hands vaguely. "I dunno, you just seem different. Where are you from?"

"London."

"I'm from Wales, but I moved here a few years after I graduated. I was living with my mum and dad, but I couldn't do it anymore."

"What made you leave?"

"Well I certainly wasn't rebellious." She smiled at him. "They were too controlling. My mum is an English teacher and my dad works in construction. They insisted I needed to be better than them and go to school to be a doctor or something. So I dropped out of college, got my first job, and moved the fuck out."

"You don't think they were right?" Sirius asked. "Sounds like they were just looking out for you."

She shrugged. "Just because they gave me life doesn't mean it's theirs to control. I never liked school."

"Why not?" Sirius was genuinely shocked. He had loved his years at Hogwarts, sometimes wishing he could go back to those simpler times.

"They tell you what to learn, what to think, how to act, what to wear... it's suffocating and depressing." She sighed. "Believe it or not, but I was bullied a lot in school. I was a bit of a dork."

Sirius laughed. "No way."

"Honestly!" She insisted, laughing. "I wore baggy clothes and I had glasses. My teeth were horrible and my hair was always a mess."

"What's wrong with glasses and messy hair?"

"James! Where the hell have you been?"

James held up his hands in surrender when Sirius whirled around on him.

"Calm down, mate. There was bloody long line for the toilet, can you believe that?" James complained as he sat down. "I thought I was going to lose it standing there."

"Thank God you're not a girl, then." Lara smirked at him. "I make sure not to drink too much when I'm here for exactly that reason. This place wasn't built to host so many people. It used to be a little diner before it became a pub."

"I thought it looked a bit small." Sirius commented, trying to imagine less people and more tables and failing. He wasn't sure what a muggle restaurant looked like.

"We should probably go." James said after a moment of silence. "Lily is probably worrying by now."

"Your wife?" Lara asked.

"Yeah. Sirius?"

"Right." He turned and, after paying the old man what they owed him for their drinks, faced Lara. "It was nice meeting you."

"Wait! Take my number." She glanced at the old man behind the bar. "Sir, do you have a pen I could borrow?"

Sirius and James watched as she quickly scribbled down her name and a series of numbers on a folded napkin and handed it to Sirius with a smile. He stared at it, wondering exactly what he should do with it.

"What's this?"

"My number, silly. That's what I just said. Give me a call when you're free." She jumped off the stool, stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, and ran off back to her friends before he could say another word.

James took the napkin from Sirius, examining it. "Give her a call?"

"I think she means with a telephone." Sirius said distractedly. "I don't have one. How do you think she'd react to an owl?"

James had to laugh. "She would probably freak out."

Sirius chuckled and snatched the napkin from his friend's hand and shoved it in his pocket, following him outside.

"Do you think I should do it?"

"Do what?"

"Call her."

James looked at Sirius like he'd lost it. "You just said you don't own a telephone. How're you going to call her?"

"I could buy one." He shrugged as he climbed onto his motorcycle. "They can't be that expensive if every muggle has one."

"You'd do that for a girl you just met?"

Sirius shrugged again, his key in the ignition though he hadn't started it up yet. He was staring across the street at the pub, lost in thought. He did like her, or at the very least he thought she was attractive. They had left far sooner than Sirius had planned.

"Just forget about it. You'll probably never even see her again."

"Very optimistic of you." Sirius rolled his eyes, but as he reached to start his bike, a loud shriek made him jump, his eyes searching for the source of the cry.

"What was that?"

"Come on, Sirius. We shouldn't interfere with anything."

"It sounded like a woman's scream."

"Sirius."

"Maybe it's a Death Eater attack." Sirius looked over his shoulder at James, who looked clearly annoyed with him. "They've been killing muggles too, James. Maybe it's those guys from earlier."

"I doubt that very much."

"Don't tell me you're scared."

James snorted. "Of course not. But what if it's not a Death Eater? What if they have guns and they shoot at us?"

"Only one way to find out!" Sirius yanked his keys from the ignition and leapt off his motorcycle in the direction he thought the scream had come from. He could hear James running after him, muttering obscenities the entire way. Sirius barely paid any attention to him as he ran. He had absolutely no idea where they were or what they were getting themselves into.

"Sirius, just stop!" James huffed, doubling over as he tried to catch his breath. "You don't even know what you're looking for!"

"Didn't you hear that scream? It was close." Sirius insisted, breathing hard, heart pounding in his chest. "We can't just ignore it."

"We absolutely can ignore it. It doesn't involve us." James complained angrily. "You don't even—"

"GET OFF ME!"

Without another word, both Sirius and James raced in the direction of the woman's voice, finding themselves at the beginning of a short alley that lead out onto another street. There was a large man standing over someone huddling on the ground, arms covering their head as though to protect themself from an attack.

"I only accept two forms of payment, sweetheart." The man jeered, kicking at the woman on the ground. She yelped in pain and tried to scramble away from him, though he grabbed her by her hair and yanked her up from the ground. "And you've got no money."

"Please." She sobbed. "I-I'll have your money tomorrow. I promise!"

"Desperate times, love." He pulled her closer. James grimaced and yanked Sirius off to the side before they were noticed.

"What do we do?"

"Knock him out and save her. Simple. Let's go."

"Sirius!" James hissed. "It's not that simple. She's going to see it and freak out and run away. If she makes it out onto the street we can't do anything. Other people will see. We can't erase everyone's memory."

"We can't leave her."

"You're clearly not thinking this through."

"And you're wasting time." Sirius snapped. "I'm doing this with or without you."

James hesitated for a split-second. "You owe me."


End file.
